"... je suis né le 11 novembre. Ton fils le 14 juillet. Aux grands hommes les grandes dates."

Autograph letter signed by René Clair, on Pinewood studios letterhead in Iver, England, addressed to Carlo Rim, 26 lines in black ink, regarding the birth of Carlo Rim's son for which René Clair does not seem certain of having already congratulated him  : "Avec honte, je découvre dans un dossier la carte par laquelle tu m'annonçais la naissance de ton fils. T'ai-je ou non envoyé des félicitations (dont la majeure partie s'adresse à Alice ?), je n'en sais rien. Au risque de me répéter, je t'écris "à nouveau" ave quelques mois de retard." ["With shame, I discover in a file the card by which you announced to me the birth of your son. Did I or did I not send congratulations (most of which are addressed to Alice?), I know nothing about it. At the risk of repeating myself, I write to you 'again' with a few months' delay."]
In order to somewhat make up for his "oversight", René Clair employs humor: " Je suis né le 11 novembre. Ton fils le 14 juillet. Aux grands hommes les grandes dates. Je pourrai fonder en sa compagnie une société des gens bien-nés." ["I was born on November 11th. Your son on July 14th. Great dates for great men. I could found in his company a society of well-born people."] and hopes to see his friend Carlo Rim soon: "Tu tournes, me dit-on, à perdre haleine. Si tu peux t'arrêter une heure, quand je serai à Paris en décembre, j'espère que nous boirons à l'avenir de ta race."  ["You're filming, I'm told, breathlessly. If you can stop for an hour, when I'm in Paris in December, I hope we'll drink to the future of your lineage."]
Central folds inherent to mailing.
Carlo Rim was a Provençal writer, notably author of  "Ma belle Marseille", a caricaturist, a filmmaker: "Justin de Marseille", "L'armoire volante", "La maison Bonnadieu", and was notably the friend of Fernandel, Raimu and Marcel Pagnol but also of Max Jacob and André Salmon whom he met in Sanary.